Cinnamon Girl donates $1-A-Bun to the Wayside Food Programs of Southern Maine on Wednesday December 8, 2021.
Wayside Food Programs helps to decrease food waste, combat poverty, and enhance community via volunteer-driven activities and a cooperative, cross-industry network of partners. Their work is based on collaborations that promote social connectedness, individual integrity, and environmental stewardship. Wayside considers that all community members’ physiological, social, and financial well-being is essential to the community’s prosperity and vitality.
Since 1986, Wayside has been expanding accessibility to healthful meals for their Southern Maine communities. Among Wayside’s hunger-relief programs are:
- Program for Food Rescue
- 13 Community Meals are provided for free every week.
- 4 Mobile Food Pantries are held every month.
- Other initiatives and collaborations include:
- Healthy Snacks for Kids
- Cooperative Dairy Purchasing
- Commodity Supplemental Food Program at Wayside Garden
- Harvesting for Harvesting for
The Communal Meals Program at Wayside assists people and families in receiving nutritional meals in a safe, community setting. They work hard to establish friendly spaces to enjoy nutritious meals, closely working with their local partners.
Wayside Food Rescue contributes to the replenishment of local food pantries’ shelves.
Wayside’s Food Rescue Program saves edible food from grocery stores, wholesalers, farmers, shipping firms, and other food businesses that aren’t sellable due to visual flaws, packaging flaws, or low inventory levels. When food is donated to Wayside, it is distributed to 60 soup kitchens, food pantries, and other social assistance organizations around Southern Maine. Wayside serves as a node in a more extensive network of food distribution groups. When these smaller organizations get gifts over their needs and storage capacity, Wayside helps them redistribute them to others, cutting down on waste and duplication of work.
The Mobile Food Pantry is a terrific approach for folks who don’t have access to typical food pantries to boost their monthly food expenditures. Participants to the Mobile Food Pantry are given a pre-packed package of non-perishable foods and also fresh vegetables, poultry, and bread, as available. Through their Mobile Food Pantry Program, Wayside supplied enough goods to create 52,000 meals in 2019.
PROGRAM FOR SUPPLEMENTAL FOOD IN THE COMMODITY (CSFP)
The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) is a food aid program for seniors. Each month, Wayside partners with food banks, community organizations, houses of worship, and local housing authorities to offer a free 30-pound package of food to eligible elderly individuals. In 2019, Wayside Food Programs fed 2,700 seniors in three counties each month.
Please help Wayside by purchasing a cinnamon, pecan, or holiday Chocolate Peppermint Bun (parking lot across from Hannaford). We hope to see you soon!
